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Charlie O’Brien is the Vice President, Agricultural Services at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), where he oversees efforts on behalf of AEM members that manufacture Ag equipment. He oversees and coordinates working groups, committees and is the chief staff liaison to the AEM Board of Directors for agriculture issues. O’Brien is AEM’s primary liaison with Ag organizations, customer groups and government agencies. He also leads AEM initiatives related to the forestry sector as well as renewable energy. O’Brien has been in agriculture his entire life. He was raised on a dairy farm outside of Madison, Wisconsin, and after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a BS in Agriculture, he joined John Deere Credit, and later earned an MBA from Drake University in Des Moines. Before joining AEM, O’Brien served as President and CEO of FPC Financial, as well as Farm Plan & AgLine (Canada) Product Manager and Sales Manager for John Deere Credit, part of Deere & Company’s Worldwide Credit Operations. He has also served as Branch Manager and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Deere Credit’s England operations and held Deere Credit management positions in sales, market and business development and risk management. AEM is the North American-based international trade group representing the off-road equipment manufacturing industry. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Beijing and a European presence in Brussels. It represents more than 800 companies in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors.

Carrie and David are students at Cal Poly University and the editors of Ag Circle Magazine.

Kent Wagoner grew up on a central Iowa century family farm. After college, he made the difficult decision to move out west where his wife’s family is centered. A stint working on the irrigated farms of the Treasure Valley of southwest Idaho led to a number of years in the vegetable seed industry. Spending over 10 years in the University of Idaho Agricultural Research and Extension Service has taught him about not only the difficulties of ag research, but also some of the hurdles of making the connection from research to production agriculture. He is married (30 years!) with two grown sons, and enjoys singing with a local southern gospel quartet. If you would like to contact him privately, you can email him at kwagoner@mail.com.

Andy Zenk is an Agribusiness Consultant with AgCountry Farm Credit Services, specializing in succession and retirement planning. In this position, he helps families work through the complex issues of farm transition, estate planning and business planning. He serves as a guide to help mentor and monitor the process of planning for retirement, constructing detailed plans based on the goals and needs of each person. He helps families design and implements necessary estate planning instruments. He also helps farmers with business entity formation and continuation plans, dissolutions and any other business planning issues they may have. Andy has a legal background as an attorney, and is currently licensed to practice law in Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado. He holds a law degree with a business concentration from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. Before joining AgCountry Farm Credit Services, he practiced law in Colorado in the areas of estate planning, asset protection, real estate and business planning. Andy lives with his wife Laurie and their four children in west-central Minnesota. He enjoys spending time at the lake, walleye fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities. Although, most of his time is spent chasing his four children around (ages 8, 6, 4 and 1), which is his favorite thing by far.

We want to meet your favorite pet or farm animal. Send us photos or videos, and be sure to tell us about your sidekick. E-mail your favorite friend to TailgateTalk@FarmJournal.com.

Senior Policy Advisor at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC, John Block has dedicated his professional career to the fields of agriculture, food, and health. His accomplishments in agriculture began with the building of a large and successful hog operation in his home state of Illinois where he also served as the Director of Agriculture from 1977-1981. He was tapped by President Reagan to serve as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1981-1985, where he played a key role in the development of the 1985 Farm Bill. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Food Distributors International (formerly National American Wholesale Grocers Association) from 1986-January 2003. Mr. Block serves on the Board of Directors of The Farm Foundation, Hormel Foods Corporation, and Digital Angel Corp. He is Chair of the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs Agribusiness Alliance and a member of the Board for the Friends of the World Food Program. He is a Non-resident Senior Fellow with the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy. John Block is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.

Doug Hensley is President of Gorsuch-Hensley Real Estate & Auction, Inc., based in Canton, IL. Doug grew up on a cash-grain and livestock farm in western-Illinois, and worked for a well-known Midwestern farmland brokerage and auction firm prior to Gorsuch-Hensley. Doug can be contacted by phone at 217-898-0972 or by email to doug@gorsuch-hensley.com.

Gail Martell, Senior Agriculture Analyst, was one of the first meteorologists on Wall Street with more than 20 years of experience in the commodities markets, focusing on corn, soybeans and wheat.

Agroconsult is a consulting firm specialized in agricultural market analysis and projects for agribusiness companies. It was founded in 2000 by the agriculture economist André Pessôa, and has a reputation of excellence in Brazil and overseas. Today, Agroconsult has clients of various segments in the agribusiness chain. Agroconsult’s clients consist of, cooperatives, input related businesses (crop defense, fertilizers, and seeds) machinery and infrastructure businesses (storage, tractors and implements), hedging and trading businesses, commodity exchanges and financial institutions (banks). On a yearly basis, Agroconsult organizes the main private sector “Crop Tour” in Brazil across the main grain-producing regions, with the purpose of evaluating harvest conditions and yields. It is known as “Rally da Safra” www.rallydasafra.com.br

The Monthly Crop Tour Insert from Pro Farmer is available throughout the growing season leading up to Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. This year’s Midwest Crop Tour, sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred and John Deere Risk Protection (JDRP) will be Aug. 17 – 21 with up to 70 scouts traveling different routes on Eastern and Western Legs through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. The Crop Tour Insert, made available on AgWeb.com and ProFarmer.com by Pioneer and JDRP, discusses corn and soybean production issues across the Midwest, including detailed crop reports from the top four corn producing states.